Infinite Vision*
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Mario appeared to see the whole ice simultaneously but uniquely able to catch goalies off balance or expose a small opening when he really had no business shooting. It wasn't just accuracy, it's the fact that goalies simply weren't ready for a shot.
Exactly. He could slow things down, or speed things up just at the right time, and he knew how goalies would react and simply found the opening.
Mario couldn't shoot hard enough, well enough to outright beat a goalie from a distance. He never had a feared shot like that. Brett Hull, Ovechkin, Stamkos, Kovalev, Mogilny, Iginla, Jagr (I'm sure many others I've missed) - these guys could rocket one past a goalie even when they are ready and in position.
Sakic, Semin, and Kovalchuk come to mind. But to be fair, they've all had years of experience with composite sticks, this helps a ton with velocity of shots, especially wristshots.
Mario really didn't play that way or shoot like that. He had no curve on his stick and I NEVER recall him winding up a laser wrist shot to score a goal. He rarely scored on 1-timers on the PP (well, not rare, but certainly not for many of his goals) - yet he seemed to score a lot of ugly goals, a lot of pretty goals, a lot of seemingly effortless flick-shots from in-close. He was able to stick-handle and use his body to get close and then was deadly in-tight.
There's no talent that comes close to that. I doubt we'll ever see a player like that again but if he comes along, it'll be something truly remarkable.
His curves were good enough, nothing close to illegal though. I would say he did score quite a few one timers on the PP, and he was the greatest powerplay scorer of all time. He also scored a lot of being in the right place at the right time type of goals, he was almost like a combination of Jagr and Gretzky... as scary as that sounds that's what I percieve him as.
I got to see him a lot in Buffalo and in Toronto - what a talent. He looked like he was hardly trying much of the time (not unlike Kovalev), but when he turned it on he was amazing to watch. Completely explosive acceleration but a rocket shot as well.
Not sure why there isn't much you-tubing of this guy - especially compared to Schremp and Omark
Completely agree, didn't see a whole lot of him in Buffalo, but enough to realize how special of a talent he was. His 76 goals in 77 games pretty much spoke for itself. Moved to the GTA a few years before he was traded to the Leafs, and I had the pleasure of watching his skill put on display many times. Sundin was the leader of that team, but when Mogilny wanted to be, he was the best player on that team hands down. His work ethic, hockey sense, and consistency were a notch above Kovalev IMO, and his speed was like Bure and Fedorov. I hope someone creates a compilation of him because it would be exciting to see for all of us and especially those who never had the pleasure of watching him.
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